xiii, 479 pages ; 24 cm

Oral history has democratized the study of the past by recording the experiences of people who have been hidden from history. This international anthology examines how oral history has challenged the historical enterprise and explores the distinctive natures and debates of the field through classic and recent articles. Arranged in thematic sections, The Oral History Reader details issues in the theory and practice of oral history, from the creation of oral evidence through to data analysis. Highlighting the complexity of historical relationships and testimony, this collection covers key debates in the postwar development of oral history including: the problems posed by interviewing, the politics of empowerment, analytical strategies for interpreting memories and more

Includes bibliographical references and index

pt. I. Critical developments. Black history, oral history and genealogy / Alex Haley ; The voice of the past : oral history / Paul Thompson ; Oral history and Hard times : a review essay / Michael Frisch ; Movement without aim : methodological and theoretical problems in oral history / Ronald J. Grele -- Work ideology and consensus under Italian fascism / Luisa Passerini ; What makes oral history different / Alessandro Portelli ; Popular memory : theory, politics, method / Popular Memory Group ; Telling our stories : feminist debates and the use of oral history / Joan Sangster -- pt. II. Interviewing. On oral history interviewing / Charles T. Morrissey ; Ways of listening / Hugo slim [and others] ; Life history interviews with people with learning disabilities / Jan Walmsley ; Family life histories : a collaborative venture / Akemi Kikumura ; Interviewing the women of Phokeng / Belinda Bozzoli ; Learning to listen : interview techniques and analyses / Kathryn Anderson and Dana C. Jack ; Marking absences : Holocaust testimony and history / Naomi Rosh White -- pt. III. Advocacy and empowerment. Oral history as a social movement : reminiscence and older people / Joanna Bornat ; Reaching across the generations : the Foxfire experience / Eliot Wigginton ; Culture and disability : the role of oral history / Karen Hirsch ; Central American refugee testimonies and performed life histories in the Sanctuary movement / William Westerman ; The Gulag in memory / Irina Sherbakova ; The Sahel Oral History Project / Nigel Cross and Rhiannon Barker ; Leprosy in India : the intervention of oral history / Sanjiv Kakar -- pt. IV. Interpreting memories. Structure and validity in oral evidence / Trevor Lummis ; What is social in oral history? / Samuel Schrager ; Anzac memories : putting popular memory theory into practice in Australia / Alistair Thomson ; Theory, method and oral history / Peter Friedlander ; 'That's not what I said' : interpretive conflict in oral narrative research / Katherine Borland ; Evidence, empathy and ethics : lessons from oral histories of the Klan / Kathleen Blee ; Telling tales : oral history and the construction of pre-Stonewall lesbian history / Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy -- pt. V. Making histories. Archival science and oral sources / Jean-Pierre Wallot and Normand Fortier ; The future of oral history and moving images / Dan Sipe ; Perils of the transcript / Raphael Samuel ; Reminiscence as literacy : intersections and creative moments / Jane Mace ; 'What the wind won't take away' : the genesis of Nisa--the life and words of a!Kung woman / Marjorie Shostak ; Presenting voices in different media : print, radio and CD-ROM / Peter Read ; Angledool stories : aboriginal history in hypermedia / Karen Flick and Heather Goodall ; Children becoming historians : an oral history project in a primary school / Alistair Ross ; The exhibition that speaks for itself : oral history and museums / Anna Green ; Out of the archives and onto the stage / Shaun Nethercott and Neil Leighton

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